Job Openings Rise to 7.52 Million in September, but Labor Department Says Little Changed
U.S. job openings totaled 7.523 million on the last business day of September, a 4.5% job openings rate, the Labor Department said Tuesday in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, known as JOLTS. The monthly survey tracks openings, hires and separations, and openings count unfilled jobs at nonfarm establishments.
Openings rose by 333,000 from August’s revised 7.19 million. August was revised up by 111,000 from the first estimate of 7.079 million. The September figure beat a market estimate of about 7.10 million compiled by InvestingLive. But the Labor Department said openings, hires and separations were all little changed from the prior month, a reading that treats the rise as too small to signal a change in trend.
Hires rose by 131,000 to 5.402 million, a 3.4% hires rate. Total separations, which include quits, layoffs and discharges and other separations, rose by 144,000 to 5.319 million, a 3.3% rate.
The most notable move was in quits. Workers who voluntarily left their jobs rose to 3.4 million from 3.0 million in August, lifting the quits rate to 2.1% from 1.9%. Quits were up 375,000 from a year earlier, led by a 197,000 increase in accommodation and food services. The quits rate, the share of workers leaving jobs on their own, is read as a sign of workers’ confidence that they can find another job.
Layoffs and discharges held at 1.6 million, a 1.0% rate. Layoffs in health care and social assistance fell by 70,000. Job openings in state and local government excluding education rose by 104,000.
The measures do not share the same clock. Openings are a snapshot from one day, the last business day of the month, while hires and separations cover the full month’s flows. A rise in openings is therefore not the same as a net gain in payroll jobs.
The report is one of the labor-market inputs the Federal Reserve watches. The Fed held its benchmark rate at 3.75% to 4.00% on Oct. 28, and the employment cost index rose 0.8% in the third quarter. One JOLTS reading does not signal the timing of the Fed’s next move.
The next labor-market release is the October employment report at 8:30 a.m. Friday, Nov. 6. The September JOLTS figures and the October jobs figures come from different surveys and should not be read as one series.
